Favourite Songs #33: ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION – After Dark

11Sep

Howdy people of the interweb, and welcome to the 33rd edition of my series of blog posts dedicated to some of my favourite songs ever in life. Today I’m gonna talk about my not only one of my favourite anime songs ever, but also one of my favourite songs in life which is ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION’s “After Dark“.

Just have a listen to the tune below:

This is a strange music video I know, but the music is undeniably awesome.

I first came across this song in 2008 while watching Bleach in college and while I was a big fan of Bleach and it’s opening and ending music, this was the first that really caught my attention and ever since that point in time I’ve been obsessed.

So what is it about this song that I love so much? Well, I think it is from the time the song starts up you know you’re in for a good song, the drums have a great beat, then the guitars kick in and then the song just explodes. What I really appreciate about most rock music is the intensity. I love songs that feel like a hurricane of power or an explosion set off by a massive bomb and this song has that. There is a raw energy coming from this song, not only from the instruments, but the vocals as well. Masafumi Gotoh sings his heart out as the main vocalist and his voice in beautiful and it compliments the power of the music as well.

Since listening to this song all those years ago, it has become a mandatory part of my music playlist whenever I’m on the move and always play it when it gets close to another session at the MCM London Expo too. It was also because of this song that I actually went off and started listening to more music from AKFG and eventually started listening to more music from Japan and while they were again primarily attached to anime, I do feel slightly more culturally diverse in my music choices now than I did 6 years ago.

So to conclude “After Dark” by ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION is pretty much the best opening song to come out of the Bleach anime and it is just one hell of a rock song in general. The song is pure energy thrown in your face and I love how hardcore it sounds at high volumes. If you’re a fan of Japanese rock or just rock in general, I would highlight recommend this. It is badass, nuff said.

Well that’s another song review done, what do you think of my song choice today? Whatever your thoughts, leave me a comment below and be sure to come back next time for another song review yo! 😀